4 comments

Chucky

It really sounds great to say that unemployment is falling but what does that really mean? If you read between the lines, you’ll know that it means fewer people are on unemployment. In other words, fewer people are receiving unemployment benefits. It does not necessarily mean they have gotten jobs.

North Carolina Got It Right on Unemployment Benefits
Unemployment in the Tar Heel State dropped by 17% in the second half of 2013 after extended benefits expired.

“More important, broader measures confirmed that North Carolina’s labor-market gains after leaving the extended-benefits program weren’t statistical quirks. In addition to the standard unemployment rate released every month (U-3), BLS computes annual averages for unemployment rates that include discouraged workers (U-4), all other marginally attached workers who have stopped looking for jobs (U-5), and people working part time who would rather have full-time jobs (U-6). By each measure, North Carolina still experienced one of the nation’s largest drops in unemployment.”